Edition Select Announced For Ultra Street Fighter 4

During a special exhibition at this weekend's Southern California Regionals 2014, Capcom's Peter "Combofiend" Rosas revealed that players will be able to select legacy versions of characters in the upcoming Ultra Street Fighter IV. At the character select screen, you'll be able to choose whether to play the Street Fighter 4, Super Street Fighter 4, Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition, Arcade Edition 2012, or Ultra Street Fighter 4 instance of any character on the roster, provided they were originally available in said version.

Exit Theatre Mode

This is the first time a modern Capcom fighting game has featured such a mode, and it's unclear whether or not it's intended to be balanced for tournament play. That said, the appeal to folks who have followed the evolution of Street Fighter 4's competitive scene was clear from the rousing applause the reveal trailer received from the crowd at UC Irvine where SoCal Regionals 2014 was being held. To show off the new feature, Capcom arranged a short exhibition, which featured pro players such as Mike Ross, Gamerbee, Alex Valle, Online Tony, and LPN. Mike Ross vs Gamerbee was particularly interesting to watch, as they were able to recreate their famous Honda vs. Adon match from Evolution 2010.

Exit Theatre Mode

Combofiend commentated the matches, explaining that picking an old version of a character reverted them entirely, including how many ultras they'd have to choose from. So if you pick Street Fighter 4 Sagat, his damage will be off the charts, but he'll only have access to his Tiger Genocide ultra as a trade-off. Frame data and move properties are properly adjusted as well, so if you miss Yun's insane divekick from AE, have at it!

It should be interesting to see if tournament organizers allow the use of Edition Select in official competition. Alex Jebailey, organizer of Community Effort Orlando, one of the biggest annual tournaments, tweeted about how he'd be handling it this year:

As of now edition select won't be selectable at #ceo2014. Gonna be sticking to strictly Ultra SF4 for official tourney play. Maybe in 2015.

Finally, Combofiend stated that one more big announcement would be made regarding Ultra Street Fighter 4 at Final Round 17 in Atlanta, GA between March 14th-16th. Could it be the elusive final character? Stay tuned to IGN for more as Final Round approaches.

Vincent Ingenito is IGN's third newest recruit, and third biggest MOBA fan. He also doesn't suck at fighting games. To hear him nerd out about them and other games, follow him on Twitter.